On this week's edition of Wednesday Night Baseball, featuring the Washington Nationals taking on the Atlanta Braves, ESPN will be experimenting with a new style of broadcasting. Analysts Doug Glanville and Mark Mulder will be at field level as opposed to in the booth with play by play man Sean McDonough.

After almost two months away from the broadcast booth, Fox's Gus Johnson returns to the soccer beat to call today's second leg in the Champions League semifinal between Bayern Munich and Barcelona.  Bayern takes a 4-0 lead back to the Camp Nou and with Barcelona's pedigree and attacking prowess, fireworks are expected.  (Note: The game is airing on FX today.)  In yesterday's other semi, Real Madrid almost completed a remarkable comeback from a 4-1 deficit against Borussia Dortmund.  If there's any game that would be full of action and a better fit for Johnson's commentary style, this would be it.

The Blues beat the Kings last night in Game 1 of their Western Conference first round matchup thanks to a shocking overtime goal.  Alexander Steen stole the puck from Kings goalie Jonathan Quick and put it in the net while St. Louis was short-handed and trying to kill a double-minor.  The shock and surprise can be seen in this great call from Fox Sports Midwest where Blues announcers John Kelly and Darren Pang are literally like, "Oh My God, what just happened."  

It's a great example of what makes playoff hockey, and more specifically, overtime playoff hockey, one of the best things in sports.  In fact, the only disturbing element of this clip is seeing this image after hearing the Blues' choice of song selection to celebrate the victory.

What you're about to witness may be the biggest two minute trainwreck in sports broadcasting this year, and surprisingly, it doesn't come from First Take.  This segment, in which everything that can go wrong does go wrong, actually comes from the award winning studio TNT studio show Inside the NBA.  Let's run down all the bloopers:

1) Shaq's cell phone goes off on set with a text message.  I'm assuming it's a text message because Shaq's phone speaks to him and tells him it's a text message.
2) Shaq throws his phone off screen as it lands on the hard floor, probably breaking it unless it's an iPhone (seriously, those things are indestructible, mine has survived falls from 20 feet.)
3) Shaq's mic isn't working.
4) Charles Barkley becomes distracted by someone off-camera walking into the studio and stops mid-sentence.
5) Barkley takes a shot at a corporate partner saying "We're on truTV tonight America!"
6) Barkley halts his train of thought AGAIN as the TNT soundman sits on Shaq's lap to try and fix his microphone again as the segment finally breaks down in its entirety.

If Inside the NBA does win another sports emmy soon, my guess is this footage isn't going to make its highlight reel.  It does make for hysterical television, though.

Video via The Big Lead

Last night, Fox Sports West/Prime Ticket had a rare opportunity when it had three postseason games to air on its two channels. The Prime Ticket chanel had an NHL/NBA playoff doubleheader with Game 1 of Kings-St. Louis followed by Game 5 of the Memphis-Clippers series. On Fox Sports West, it was Game 1 of the Detroit-Anaheim NHL Playoff series. 

As the Kings-Blues game was winding down, it appeared things would end on time as the NHL game would end right as the Clippers game would get underway. But a funny thing happened. The Kings' Justin Williams tied it with 31.6 seconds remaining in regulation forcing overtime. 

While the Kings game went into intermission, Prime Ticket began airing the Clippers game. The Kings' Twitter account tried to reassure fans that the hockey game would be coming back once overtime was underway. In fact, Fox Sports West's Twitter account also tweeted the same information. However, what happened when overtime began in St. Louis made two fan bases angry. 

Prime Ticket went to a double box showing the Clippers on the left and the Kings on the right. But neither game went to full screen and that is how both games remained until St. Louis won in overtime on a Jonathan Quick giveaway in the Kings' zone. 

It angered both Clippers and Kings fans. Actress Alyssa Milano, who is a huge hockey fan, was especially angry.

This spilt screen bullshit is driving me nuts. #LAKings #Clippers

— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) May 1, 2013

What's interesting is that while there's no official overflow Fox Sports channel in Southern California for conflicts, one was created in April for the Dodgers and it was utilized twice. In addition, the Clippers game was on TNT and when playoff games are on either ESPN or TNT, neither channel is blacked out in the home market. The Kings game was airing on CNBC and was blacked out locally, giving Kings fans no option to see the game on a full screen. In this case, Fox Sports did not utilize the overflow channel it had created for the Dodgers conflicts and continued with the double box until the Kings game was over.

So far, there's been no explanation from Fox Sports West as to why it went to the split screen. Awful Announcing will update the story if there is an official statement from Fox Sports. 

UPDATE: Wil Wheaton, yes Wil Wheaton, also ranted about the split screen as well and the fact that the Clippers game was available on TNT while the Kings game was blacked out on CNBC.

Kings fans, it's time for some strongly worded letters to @foxsportswest. This is infuriating.

— Wil Wheaton (@wilw) May 1, 2013

If @foxsportswest is going to split screen a Kings game in OT, the NHL shouldn't blackout other channels that aren't. @cnbc

— Wil Wheaton (@wilw) May 1, 2013

And now that I'm on an official rant, anyone who cares about the clippers is watching on TNT, @foxsportswest. Wake up, idiots.

— Wil Wheaton (@wilw) May 1, 2013

UPDATE II: From a Fox Sports West spokesperson:

“With Clippers, Kings, and Ducks all having playoff games last night, we tried the make the best of a challenging situation and offer balanced coverage of all the teams.  In similar situations going forward, we’ll take a look a look at our plans and see if there’s a way to serve all teams and viewers better.”

Another comment was released later in the day Wednesday by the network ensuring playoff games would be aired in their entirety in the future:

“We sincerely apologize to the Kings and the Clippers and their fans,” said Steve Simpson, senior vice president and general manager, FOX Sports West and Prime Ticket. “We didn't serve them as well we should have with our coverage of last night’s games. Going forward, there is a plan in place to ensure all remaining playoff games are seen in their entirety, which includes lifting local blackouts if necessary.”  

(Pic via The Royal Half)

All Times Eastern

Boxing
Mayweather vs. Guerrero Press Conference -- CBS Sports Network, 4:30 p.m.
All Access: Mayweather vs. Guerrero, Episode 4 -- Showtime, 10 p.m.

College Football
College Football Live -- ESPN, 4 p.m.

College Softball
Eastern Michigan at Michigan State -- Big Ten Network, 5 p.m.

Golf
Top 10: 17th at TPC Sawgrass -- Golf Channel, 7:30 p.m.
On the Range: Wells Fargo Championship -- Golf Channel, 8 p.m.
Big Break Mexico: Preview -- Golf Channel, 9 p.m.

Horse Racing
Kentucky Derby Draw -- NBC Sports Network, 5 p.m.

The Chicago Blackhawks scored a lot during the regular season. Only the Pittsburgh Penguins had more goals in 48 games. But while doing a live hit outside of Chicago's dressing room prior to Tuesday night's playoff opener, CSN reporter Susannah Collins accidentally suggested that the 'Hawks have been doing a lot of the other kind of scoring, as well. 

Collins poked fun at herself while apologizing afterwards on Twitter, adding that she'd do her best to avoid risking another slip-up by mentioning one particularly dangerously-named member of the Minnesota Wild...

Don't worry, I'll do my best to avoid saying "Clutterbuck" tonight. Can't have a other slip-up! #thatdidntgothewayiplanned

— Susannah Collins (@susannahcollins) May 1, 2013

Unfortunately for Collins, that won't be possible because Cal Clutterbuck scored the first goal of the series less than five minutes into the first period of Tuesday night's game.

H/T Jimmy Traina

CBC hockey commentator Don Cherry's controversial statement Saturday that female reporters shouldn't be allowed in male dressing rooms provoked plenty of outrage from both industry groups and Twitter users, led to a Kif-like sigh on-air from counterpart and frequent foil Ron MacLean, and created a firestorm that still hasn't entirely died out a few days later. However, some (not all) of Cherry's colleagues and his company haven't exactly abandoned him. MacLean's since defended Cherry, and the CBC itself just said Cherry's views are his own, which isn't the strongest response in the world. Given how out of sync Cherry's views are with both employment law and decades of practice (bizarrely enough, the first female reporters in a professional sports locker room were in the NHL, as Robin Herman and Marcel St. Cyr gained access at the 1975 All-Star game, and later that season, Cherry became the first coach to allow Herman locker-room access after regular-season games), some might have expected his company to come down harder on him. However, the CBC's (lack of) response is perhaps to be expected given Cherry's role at the network, which essentially has him as a similar pot-stirrer to ESPN's Skip Bayless. 

Sports Illustrated's cover story written by Jason Collins has made perhaps an even bigger impact than could have initially been expected.  The article has touched a populace far beyond the sports world and become a mainstream story with everyone from Kobe Bryant to Barack Obama proclaiming their support.  In fact, Collins' piece moved so thoroughly and so quickly across the internet that it became the most trafficked day in SI.com's history according to SBJ's Eric Fisher...

With one of the wildest days we can ever recall in sports media, we invite back to the show Deadspin's John Koblin to break it all down. John's reporting into ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and more in the sports media is one of the pillars of the top sports blog in the land. Today, we chat with John about Jason Collins coming out, the fallout of Chris Broussard's comments on Outside the Lines, and where we go from here, as well as...

-The significance of Jason Collins coming out in a first person narrative.
-The importance for SI as a magazine and their future health.
-The reaction to Collins' announcement from the sports and media worlds.
-Did ESPN set up Chris Broussard to debate homosexuality?
-Why ESPN was late to the Collins story and how yesterday was a backwards step after a positive year for Bristol.
-What other networks and outlets may learn moving forward.

A great discussion with John on the major stories of the day and their evolving nature.

In case you've missed any of our podcasts, check out all of our interviews by subscribing to the AA Podcast on iTunes or our AA Podcast RSS Page.  For more from John, follow him on Twitter @koblin.